a peek inside the fishbowl

30 Jan, 2011

Moment of bliss #012

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Moments of bliss

Sunday January 30, 2011

“It reminds me of being in a church mumma,” she says. She is right. This is my trinity: blue sky, bright sun, quiet forest. Sunlight streams through the branches and illuminates the ordinary, making it sparkle and shine. The world is blissfully white and silent here. The trees reach for the sky in anticipation of a holy embrace.

The city isn’t far away yet everything is unbelievably still. The woods – and most everything in them – are asleep. I take a deep breath of fresh cold air, happy to be enjoying this day with the people I love most.


9 Responses to "Moment of bliss #012"

1 | FireMom

January 30th, 2011 at 7:06 pm

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So beautiful. So true.

2 | Jen_nifer

January 30th, 2011 at 8:11 pm

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Glad to read that cross-country skiing is working for the family!

3 | Meghan

January 31st, 2011 at 10:01 am

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My girls are about the same ages as yours and we cross country ski almost every weekend. This has been the best year so far – my almost 12 year old is better than me and my almost 10 year old is really enjoying herself. We had a great ski yesterday at P7 in Gatineau. Complete with a trip to the warm up shack and lunch by the wood stove. So fun!

4 | andrea

January 31st, 2011 at 10:09 am

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Thank you! It is so much fun I can’t get over it.
I will be writing more about our outing at some point this week.

5 | Binki

January 31st, 2011 at 5:30 pm

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We did Mer Bleue yesterday. Gorgeous sunny day.

Girls (8 and 6) are really digging XC skiing this year. And they’re already quite good. All our equipment is from Tim’s (used equip in Ottawa). About $65 per package (boots, skis, poles). They’re the older Salomon SNS bindings (metal D on the front of the boot) but they work just fine.

XC…the good, green skiing.

6 | Vicky

January 31st, 2011 at 10:48 pm

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These are great moments. I call them moments of joy. You really do have to write them down when they happen.

7 | Kathleen

January 31st, 2011 at 11:50 pm

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I can almost hear the skis travelling lightly on snow as you follow your daughters’ tracks.

8 | Winter wonderland >> a peek inside the fishbowl

February 2nd, 2011 at 9:16 am

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[…] went cross-country skiing last weekend. As I mentioned, the day was picture perfect. The girls are still learning (and I’m rather iffy myself) so […]

9 | Holy snow >> a peek inside the fishbowl

March 7th, 2011 at 8:59 am

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[…] stand by my earlier metaphor of cross-county skiing as a near church-like experience. The trees are the church and the steeple, […]

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My name is Andrea and I live in the Westboro area of Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Piper who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. We also have two human offspring: Emma (23) and Sarah (21). During the day I work as a writer at The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

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